Cleansing
by Princesa7
Summary: What did she see in him, in these monster's eyes? Stupid girl, she shouldn't play with what she didn't understand. But he couldn't help but get sucked in, too. GrimmHime; just a short two-part fic to get me out of a writing funk!


**Hime:** Gawd I hate life. 8D Bad news is, though, I've been sick with a really bad bug for two weeks. The good news, is I had plenty of time to hunt down my muses, which had been off in lala land for a while. XD This oneshot was like a kick back in to business for me, and I really got inspired after seeing episodes 166 and 167. Grimmjow's forms are just…gorgeous, I love them. . Oh and I'll be writing like mad for Pretty Girl tomorrow, for those waiting on that!

--

Grimmjow was a _force_.

He enjoyed knowing that, that deep down he wasn't bound by anything. All he had to do was run, and kill, and eat. He might have been required to do it, to live, but he was above the rest simply because he knew there was something higher out there, something better. _Other _Hollows ate because they feared losing what they knew of themselves, of turning back into something mindless; _he_ ate to find more of himself, what he didn't yet know. Regression didn't scare him. He'd get them too, in the end. Best get rid of the simple-minded ones while he could. More food for the rest, and that was how life worked, at least for now. He supposed it got annoying from time to time, but the taste of Hollow blood never failed to keep him on track to his goal, however frustrating it could be.

Grimmjow sped down the never-ending horizon, paws pounding into the sand so fast they only just skimmed the surface, kicking up a light shimmer of dust behind him. He'd had his meal that day, and was just enjoying the raw power running through his limbs and making him so warm that his tail twitched. He was used to being cold, not feeling anything, but day after day, the change was obvious. He was getting warm, could feel the wind, the ever-present chill in the air that was different from the numb kind of cold he was used to. It was like his body was slowly waking up. He came to a slow stop, the breeze tickling the fur on his ears. He flattened them, sat back on his haunches and looked up at the moon. Always crescent, never full, kind of like him.

There was a growl in the distance, and a clicking noise that could only be the unmistakable sound of a Hollow laugh. Grimmjow curled a lip and closed his eyes. He wasn't hungry just then and didn't feel like wasting energy; other Hollows often observed him from a distance, that is, the overly-curious and foolish ones did. He couldn't help that watching the moon caused a pleasant stirring in his chest, even if it was strange to them. What the hell did they know of sensation, anyway. He raked one paw against the gap in his abdomen, neck craned skywards, and indulged in a rare moment of peace. All his days were full of speed and conflict and tearing flesh, it shouldn't be surprising that some quiet was all he'd like at the end of it. Grimmjow stretched his lean body out over the sand, crystal eyes unfocused, and dozed, but kept his ears up. One had to keep alert, after all…

--

When he came to fully, only the fact that the moon was on the opposite side of the sky gave him any indication that "night" had passed. But there was something off, a scent in the air that made him uncertain. Uncertainty wasn't something he liked, and he scrambled to his feet and spun around snarling. Until that moment, Grimmjow hadn't been aware of any other noise either, until just then when it stopped. It had sounded so natural, and calming, almost like the moonlight made him feel. The sound stopped with an abrupt gasp, and he saw red.

A whole head of red, in fact, which was such a foreign color that it confused him even more, made him wonder if he was dreaming those strange dreams again. Grimmjow extended his claws and braced them in the sand as the "invader's" figure stood up fully, shaking just as much as he.

"I'm sorry, uhm, whatever you are. I didn't mean to wake you from your nap!" Then it bowed, red hair falling around its shoulders like a curtain. It was covered in white like a Hollow, but it wasn't. There was no hole, no mask, just…skin? Grimmjow knew what skin was anyway. He retracted his claws and held himself a little easier.

"The hell are you?" he growled out, wincing at the grinding sound of his voice compared to the musical quality of the other's. For some reason it felt offensive by comparison.

It looked surprised, and stood up straight again. "Y-you can talk? How weird, it's like a Disney movie about talking animals…"

Grimmjow didn't even try to understand what that meant. He repeated himself, sounding a little nastier about it. He was getting agitated with his question going unanswered, and also with how he felt so hesitant to leap and kill this trespasser into _his_ space, while he was asleep of all times.

It lifted one hand, small and smooth, he noted, no claws to be seen, and scratched and its head. "I'm Orihime Inoue, I'm a human. I was just walking around out here and found you laying there…"

Something about the word human was familiar. Grimmjow was pretty certain he'd been one before, figured that out a long time ago as old memories of a bustling world filled with people came up now and again. How else could he be what he was now? But the thought of being a human was so far away that it didn't even feel like it applied to him anymore; nothing in him was human now, and he didn't really feel the loss of it. Question was, how did this one get in, into _his_ world. Now that his mind wasn't so fogged with confusion, he could piece together that it was female, and not to mention helpless looking. Unless she planned on fighting off hungry Hollows with her bare hands, she'd be digesting inside of one by next moonrise. Grimmjow blinked apathetically, half turned to go, but looked back. Of course, as far as his knowledge about humans went, she was physically appealing. Worse things could happen to a defenseless woman out here, he was sure. Some Hollows were truly scum; for some reason knowing that made his insides churn. He at least had some morals.

Grimmjow stalked up to her, chuckling to himself as the girl's eyes widened and she backed up a few steps, probably expecting him to eat her right then. Honestly, he wanted to yell at her for being so stupid and putting herself in danger for coming here to begin with; humans had brains didn't they? He might have been a smaller-than-normal Adjuchas, but he still towered a good head over her petite frame. He bent his neck down to sniff at her quizzically.

"What are you doin' out here human? Don't you know what this place is? You're gonna get eaten if you don't scram; not everything around here is as nice as me." The sight of his jagged teeth mere inches away must have made her shiver, which satisfied him somewhat.

Orihime averted her eyes, idly kicked up some sand with her foot. "I just wanted to--to get out of my room for a while. I was allowed, if I didn't go very far, and I just found you here asleep."

Grimmjow's grin vanished, a bit disappointed she stopped looking at him. "Allowed? You talk like you got no freedom."

The girl slowly looked back up at him again, her gaze sad and suddenly listless. "That's about right." Her low voice and defeated demeanor irked him, made him jerk his head up and snort. Whatever it was, it wasn't his problem. Let her get eaten because she was too weak to break whatever or whoever kept her here, it wasn't his fault.

"Whatever," he scoffed, turning again, "just don't say I didn't warn you."

"I--" Grimmjow kept walking, even though it sounded like she wanted to say more. He heard her sigh. "Yes…thank you, uhm, w-what's your name?"

Orihime recoiled as he threw an intense glare over his shoulder at her. Her already obvious weakness annoyed him, but she was something different in his predictable world. Every day he waited for the change that would signal his evolution into something higher; maybe she was part of it, and he couldn't pass up the chance. And even if he found out she wasn't, he could just eat her later. Ease both their troubles.

"Grimmjow Jaegerjaques," he rumbled, turning back around again to face her a little more seriously.

Orihime forced a smile onto her face, clasping her hands in front of her. Whatever she was looking so happy for, Grimmjow had no idea. He looked over her head, behind her, looking for something to distract himself from his racing mind.

"Where've you been hiding anyway? I haven't heard of any humans around here before."

Orihime fidgeted with her shirt sleeve, red dusting her cheeks as she managed to look embarrassed and worried at once. "I think it was called Los Noches; it's a huge place, like a castle. But…I was only walking for a little while, and when I turned around it was gone! I'm just…"

"Lost, ain't ya?"

Grimmjow almost laughed at her flustered expression; he held it in, no doubt it would just scare her off, and this was the most interesting thing that had happened to him since he became fully conscious of himself. He closed the remaining distance between them, nudging her with his shoulder. She looked up at him curiously.

"Well? Get on my back, there's no way you can keep up with my speed, and I need to eat for the day. And hop to it, or I'll have to eat you." A small part of him doubted he would, but he wanted to get going on his hunt. Orihime swallowed hard and he felt his impatience rise, but small hands quickly fumbled for a hold on his sleek back and shoulder. He only barely twitched as she situated her self just behind his shoulders. If he were a bit bigger she could probably sit cross-legged, but she wrapped her legs around his neck and waited.

"Don't fall," was her only warning before he raced off in the opposite direction she came from; over the wind he heard her shriek and groaned inwardly as his ears were gripped like a horse's reins. Grimmjow sniffed the air for the familiar dead scent of breakfast, wondering what the hell he'd just set in motion.

--

It was a quick kill; Grimmjow idly debated if it was quick because the Hollow was weak, or because he fought harder with the extra "baggage" of the human girl. She was pretty to have around, but he soon discovered not much else. Orihime just watched from a respectable distance while he tore into his prey, not paying her any mind for the moment. She toyed with a string on her shirt, avoiding looking at the bloody display. It was worse than the actual attack, which was almost instantaneous, like lightning. What was worse, is it just reminded her of her own missed meals. And even if she could somehow make a fire out here, there was no way she'd eat a Hollow, cooked or not.

Grimmjow finished, leaving only a few tattered bones of the bird-like creature he'd consumed behind, and licked at his paws. They itched if he let them get matted with blood. Orihime blanched; a drop more and his entire front half would be stained green with it.

"A-ano, Grimmjow-san, if you'd like I can clean you up much quicker." She got up from her uncomfortable seat on a rock and walked towards him hesitantly, brushing sand off her legs. Grimmjow just stared, wondering how she even planned to reach above his shoulders, when an orange glow and two white blurs on either side of his head made him snap his neck back in surprise. He tried swatting at one.

"What--"

"Just relax Grimmjow-san, they're my Shun-Shun Rikka, my only power really. Watch…"

But he couldn't see exactly what they did; an oval-shaped wall of orange formed over his body, and he tingled all over as the blood and Hollow bits seemingly vanished. Normally it took a good hour of rolling in the sand to get it all off; maybe she wasn't so useless after all. He cocked one eye to get a better look at the thing, and stopped breathing.

Once, not long after he became an Adjuchas, he'd wondered what he looked like. There wasn't any water, or anything like a mirror in Hueco Mundo, so how would he know. He knew what most of his body looked like, but not his face. What he saw reflected in that shimmering surface caused such a strange emotion in him, he thought he'd gone mad. His head was somewhat blocky, but feline like the rest of him. Skull white, ears sharp and erect, and two deep blue eyes stared back at him in what looked like horror. A last few drops of blood trickled from his chin and nose before being cleansed away by that girl's light with the rest of it; his name felt extremely fitting just then.

"There! All done," Orihime proclaimed, the light winking out and her hairpins glowing briefly as her Rikka returned. She must not have noticed the change in his mood, for she stood there and smiled while Grimmjow contemplated slicing her throat right there.

Was that really him? He didn't look like anything more than a common animal, or the countless other Hollows. He thought he was better than that, than them, but for some reason just looking into his own eyes had set his self-image off balance, and he didn't like it. And a whole other discomfort revealed itself; whatever this girl was, she wasn't normal. She was different, had powers like him even if he couldn't just make things disappear, and yet she was…human. How lucky was she, to have both. He hated it. Orihime reached out a hand to touch his side, concerned.

"Grimmjow-san?"

"Shut up, and get back on; I'm finding that Los Noches place and taking you back." There was no way she could stay with him now. He briefly wondered why he had contemplated keeping her around at all. She was this gorgeous bridge between humanity and all that he was, ruthless brutality. She belonged somewhere else, far away from him.

"Back? But I can't!" Her sudden outburst surprised him. But she was serious; her eyes had lit up and she clenched the hem cloth of her shirt until her knuckles were white. "You might be a Hollow but…I can't go back there. To them I'm just a prisoner, they just want to use me so they can hurt others, hurt my friends." Something shining pooled in the corners of her eyes, slipping down her cheeks and falling into the sand as he body shook with emotions she couldn't let out. She hadn't even given a thought to going back there, and it scared her that she might lose the closest thing she had to freedom already.

Grimmjow rumbled deep in his throat. "You think you'll have a better time followin' me around? If the circumstances were any different I'd have eaten you by now, and you want to stay with me? What the hell is your glitch." Whatever she was doing to him, looking up with those pleading wet eyes, she better stop before he lost control of this feeling. "You don't belong here with me; you belong with other humans, or whatever you are. Tch, they'll probably miss you too. I don't think they'd like to know I've been your company either, might skin a monster like me alive if they knew about it." The grin he gave her was almost sadistic, but sad. At least, that's how she saw it.

"Grimmjow-san," she whispered, wiping her eyes and composing herself as much as she could. "You say all these things, about how you could kill me, but you didn't. You let me stay with you, even if just for a few hours, and now you even wanted to take me back. If you were really a monster, you'd just eat me and be done with it." Orihime hadn't meant for those last few words to come out with a bitter edge, but they had. Something about this mess upset her in more ways than one. She liked being with Grimmjow; he was a Hollow, but kind, somehow, she knew he was. And he was intelligent, not like the other Hollows she'd had to help fight against before with her friends. It seemed to her that all he cared about was living quietly here, and she admired this difference in something she usually confronts as an enemy.

"I want to stay with you. You're kind of scary," she flashed a tearful smile at him. "but…nice. I like you, Grimmjow-san. I don't think you're a monster."

Grimmjow's chest inflated, and he redirected his jaws to the sky so the roar issuing from them wouldn't tear her apart. He howled until his throat went raw, and all traces of Hollows in the area for miles disappeared, fearing what was happening. Orihime covered her ears and knelt down in the sand, head pounding and very afraid. She curled up into a fetal position until the noise, like a jet plane she thought, finally stopped. Even when the only sound left was Grimmjow's heated panting, she kept the position and wondered what she'd done wrong.

"Orihime." It was a command, and the girl looked at him anxiously, feeling the power in his voice as if it was wrapping around her throat.

Grimmjow faced her with his head bowed, the muscles in his neck twitching with his breaths. He looked like he was in pain. The ever sympathetic side in Orihime took over, and she found herself on her knees in front of him, gripping that bony head in her hands. She could actually feel him shaking beneath her fingers.

'_It isn't right,'_ she thought. _'He's too great to be so broken.' _She'd never given much of a care for what a Hollow might feel, but now more than ever did she want to get in his head and understand the tortures inside. She knew that all Hollows had been humans once; was something haunting Grimmjow the way she had haunted her own brother's thoughts even after his death? Orihime placed a hand just above his eyes, felt his jaws twitch like he wanted to bite her, but he didn't.

"What do you have to gain, staying here. You're obviously part of something bigger than cleaning blood off my fur, so why ain't you there."

Orihime dropped her free hand to her lap, feeling the familiar dead weight of sorrow she always felt when she thought about the situation between the shinigami and Aizen. "I don't always understand why they fight, why things have to go so wrong. I wish they could…be like you. You're like everything that ever frightened me, but turned good, almost. I think that's really special, it is to me. The minute you showed enough concern to warn me that I was in a dangerous place, I felt relieved, because I knew that not everything was out to get me here. I'm thankful--"

The girl gasped, torn from her emotional moment as she was thrown to the ground on her back, a huge paw, holding her down on her stomach. It wasn't painful, but uncomfortable; she squirmed.

Grimmjow couldn't stand the feel of her warm hand on his head anymore. He hadn't intended to shove her, but he let himself panic. When she touched him, he felt like fire was racing under his bone-like skin. Grimmjow winced, lifted his paw with every intent of running and never thinking about her again, when his body took on a life of its own. He crawled around, settling down in the sand behind her, and drawing her closer with his tail. The stunned girl didn't protest, but she looked like she was about to cry again as his form curled around hers. He ignored the heat she radiated and the twitching in his muscles to _move_, and just kept her close, as close as he could get without crushing her. Orihime wrapped her arms around his neck, happy in a way she couldn't name.

"You've got to be the craziest thing I've ever met, girl," Grimmjow ground out, but there was no harshness in his words. This was too much for him to take in at once, and before he knew it his eyes were closing, and he was lulled to sleep by the warm trickles of her tears on his chest.

Orihime just sighed as she felt the creature relax in sleep, wondering why she felt so attached to him. She was certain she'd never met any human named Grimmjow before, unless Hollows got new names when they died, so that couldn't be it. Just something about him, being what he was…

'_I never felt right even after Sora passed on. This almost feels like a second chance, to _really_ make a difference, somehow.'_ She didn't really understand her own thoughts, and the pulse of his body was soothing enough that she soon fell asleep alongside him, nestled comfortably between his crossed arms and leaning her head against his.

_--_

**Hime: **Guess what's getting a sequel. :D (already has the idea ready) It's only a two-part though, but you know me, my GrimmHime love won't stop with one fic. (hearts)


End file.
